Powder detergent manufacturers in Malaysia recommend their customers to use 33 g to 200 g detergents for a wash load of 5 kg clothes. The bulk density of products varied from 0.34 g ml^-1 to 1.08 g ml^-1. The performance of the detergents at the recommended rates to remove soil from a standard cloth in 50 ppm water hardness varied from 39.8% to 100%. Their performances decreased in higher water hardness. It was deduced that the cost of detergent to remove 100% soil from 1 kg clothes was in the range of RM 0.27 to RM 0.75. The two best powder detergents in the Malaysian market contained palm-based fatty alcohol ethoxylates. Most good powder detergents from the Malaysian market contained nonionic surfactants as the main active matter, mixed with either anionic or cationic surfactants.